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Finger nails?

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(@audioboy)
Reputable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 187
Topic starter  

So, my finger nails are currently very long, and I don't know why but I like them long 8)
But is it a wise idea to play the guitar with long nails? I haven't had problems fretting with long nails, but I also haven't played in like a week...

and I am a junior member now? when did this happen :D


   
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 geoo
(@geoo)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 2801
 

I hate playing with long nails. But I am so lazy to chop them off that usually it bothers my fretting hand before I do anything about it. Some days my left hand has really short nails and my right hand has really long ones.

Geoo

“The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn” - David Russell (Scottish classical Guitarist. b.1942)


   
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(@kingpatzer)
Noble Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 2171
 

Long nails on your fretting hand will prevent you from playing cleanly and consistently.

Depending on your playing style, long nails on the non-fretting hand may be just what the doctor ordered.

It's just another in the long lines of ways that guitarists can be unbalanced :)

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST


   
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(@doug_c)
Reputable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 397
 

I could never figure out how Dolly Parton could be playing guitar on TV with her nails so long. She may have just been "finger-synching."

I keep some nail clippers and some emery boards in my gear bag.


   
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(@voodoo_merman)
Reputable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 368
 

Your fretting hands nails should always be cut short (save for the thumb).

At this time I would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT...IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY -- A LOVE SUPREME --. John Coltrane


   
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(@nolongerme)
Honorable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 475
 

Do cut your nails. Its so much easier to play and not that we care but it will keep the nails i better shape too. :)

I have a friend who wanted to play guitar but she didn't have any nail clippers so she bit off her nails and i was thinking
thats my type of girl!


   
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(@guitar_goddess)
Active Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 5
 

I used to play with long nails now I regret it cause not only is it harder to play properly it scratched up my fretboard :evil:
I always have my nails short now :wink:

"People Suck, Music Doesn't"~ Mick Mars


   
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(@cyranodb)
Estimable Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 178
 

I keep my nails very short but then i always did.

"I use heavy strings, tune low, play hard and floor it. Floor it, that's a technical term." - SRV


   
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(@elecktrablue)
Famed Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 4338
 

I used to have long, pretty nails............. but I'd rather play guitar!!

..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨))
((¸¸.·´ .·´
-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´ -:¦:- Elecktrablue -:¦:-

"Don't wanna ride no shootin' star. Just wanna play on the rhythm guitar." Emmylou Harris, "Rhythm Guitar" from "The Ballad of Sally Rose"


   
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 Bish
(@bish)
Famed Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 3636
 

Pheobe (Friends) has long nails and look how well she plays. :shock:

Bish

"I play live as playing dead is harder than it sounds!"


   
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(@barnabus-rox)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 2957
 

lol at electra

classic line that

Here is to you as good as you are
And here is to me as bad as I am
As good as you are and as bad as I am
I'm as good as you are as bad as I am


   
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(@zaiga)
Trusted Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 64
 

Short at the fretting hand, long at the strumming hand.


   
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(@molotovfolktale)
Active Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 9
 

my fretboard hand is short as it can be and my right hand's nails are all long and rounded cept for my pinky. What can I say...I like fingerstyle playing. Sometimes my index finger nail gets in the way when I am playing with a pick. I accidently hit the nail and the pick at the same time....oops...:)


   
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(@rubburduckie)
Eminent Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 27
 

Do cut your nails. Its so much easier to play and not that we care but it will keep the nails i better shape too. :)

I have a friend who wanted to play guitar but she didn't have any nail clippers so she bit off her nails and i was thinking
thats my type of girl!

I do that quite frequently LOL


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 10264
 

I was once stood next to a girl in a very crowded pub, she had a glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other....my chat up line was, "you're a left-handed guitarist aren't you?" to which she replied "what makes you think that?" I said "short nails on the right hand, long on the left...." to which she then replied, "I've never touched a guitar in my life - the manicurist was just going on to the left hand, and there was a power cut....."

Oh well - can't win 'em all.....

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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